Inside a Red Notebook - an Ice Age 4 Fanfic
by scoobs5601
Summary: A perfectly innocent title to a not so innocent fanfic... When a Charlie passes out and re-awakens in the world of Ice Age, she starts a new life as Tasmin the opossum. All seems great, until her human self takes a turn for the worst, and Taz is forced to make a decision that affects her whole world. Changed to K plus for the moment. :)
1. A Bump on the Head

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age. Sadly. But I do own Charlie/Taz the possum. :D**

Inside a Red Notebook

If it wasn't for me and my crazy imagination, I probably wouldn't be here. I mean, I'm a human half of the time. Honest, I am! Unless I'm a possum that dreams about being a human... eh, it wouldn't make sense if I'd lived nearly all my life in a dream.

I'll tell you how it began.

It was an extremely icy **(how appropriate!)** grey Friday morning. Our teacher, Miss Haskin, was delayed because of the bad weather, so we were stuck in the Dance studio watching some DVD about streetdancing and nattering about the stuff girls often natter about. The topic today, however, was films.

A while before this, I had seen Ice Age 4, being a loyal fan of the series, and loved it. This lesson I whispered and laughed with my best friend Becca over Sid's Lotus berry antics, Peaches' obsession over Ethan and the cuteness factor of Louis. ESPECIALLY the latter. Just the way his dark faithful eyes would grow large and soft during certain emotions was enough to make me want to cuddle up to the adorable little molehog.

Becca nudged me. "I think you've got a crush on a fictional character, Charlie," she smirked with Kayla, who was on my opposite side. I didn't protest, after all, denial is the clincher, right?

"But he's so darn sweet!" I exclaimed, which only made the three of us giggle harder than ever.

I tried to concentrate on the lessons that day; but my head seemed to drift off into the world of the Ice Age. I was leaping through the forests with Shira, slipping down the frozen Falls with Peaches, sitting in the depths of Precious's stomach. I even stared out the window lost in blissful fantasy during my History class, which could have gotten me in severe trouble.

"Are you all right, Charlotte?" Mr. MacDouglas asked, narrowing his eyebrows at my hazy expression. I hastily rearranged my features into an innocent teacher's-pet-type smile.

"Yes sir, of course," I replied politely. He had used my 'oh so snobby' full name, which usually irritated me big time, but I kept my lips sealed and tried not to let it gnaw at my conscience.

The end of the day followed close after History, and on the way home even my mum was concerned.

"Are you OK, Charlie?" she asked, pulling into the driveway outside our home. I nodded,

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason," she shrugged, "you were just a little quiet when we were driving back here."

"Nah, I'm fine, I just need a rest."

Once inside, I charged upstairs, took a sharp right and collapsed into the black leather swivel chair by my desk. Pulling out a deep blue laptop and tapping, "Ice Age Wikia" into the searchbar, I browsed through the different characters' profiles, raising my eyebrows at pieces of information I had never heard before. Like, the three cave paintings in the first "Ice Age" I assumed to be a young Manny and his parents, but I guess I was wrong.

Suddenly, an odd feeling awakened in my stomach, as if my inners were being pulled out. I knew that feeling from the time I got food poisoning... and believe me, I did NOT need to have icky stuff on my carpet yet again. I speedwalked to the bathroom and held my head over the sink, which began to look blurry... I was out cold before I knew it.

I came around what felt like hours later, groaning.

"Ow... what just happened... agh!". I had tried staggering to my feet, only to have my head collide with a log.

Wait... a log? Wasn't I in my parent's en suite when I passed out? My head throbbed as I parted my hair to take a good look at the large swelling on the back of my head. I turned to see my reflection in a sheet of ice, and let out a yell.

Instead of seeing my normal, quite skinny, mousey haired blue eyed self, the icy mirror depicted a small slender possum, with soft fur, and a dark fringe that fell over one eye. Backing away from my new appearance, my back met what felt like a large fuzzy tree trunk, and I realised I wasn't alone.

**So... waddaya think? Sorry if the first chapter's a bit short, I'm pretty new to writing fanfics like this. Please review, favourite or whatever! In any case, hope it was the bee's knees.**

**P.S. There is a REASON it's called 'Inside a Red Notebook'. Brownie points to those who can guess why. :P**


	2. Meet Taz

"Can I help you, young lady?" asked a voice. For a large creature, whatever it was, it had a gentle, kindly manner of talking.

"Uh... yeah. Yes, I think help would be good," I replied shakily, turning around to get a better look at whoever I had bumped into and nearly having a heart attack. It was none other than Ellie the Mammoth!

She smiled in a friendly way and allowed me to step up onto her trunk, so we were on eye level with each other. "Uh – I'm, uh – I - " I stuttered from the pure shock of it.

"It's okay, I don't bite." She chuckled. "Now, who are you?"

It sounded like a simple question, I know, but I thought carefully about my answer. I mean, you can't tell a mammoth that you've been transported back in time from 2012 where you led life as a human teenager. She'd think I was nuts! Besides, I had a feeling that bearing a typically boyish name like Charlie was going to cause confusion.

An old black and white film flickered through my head of names I had always had a fondness to be called by. One particular title seemed to fit my new persona.

"I'm Tasmin," I said, "but call me Taz."

Ellie nodded.

"Okay. So, Taz," she continued, "You don't seem very familiar to here, are you?"

"Uh, I guess not. You could say I lived a world away," I murmured, tittering at my own inside joke. Ellie didn't pursue the subject, thankfully.

"You don't need to worry about it, girl. I'm part possum, you know. We help each other." I pretended this was all news to me. "You're part possum?" I used a fake expression of surprise. She nodded.

"Mhm. I was raised by possums since I was a calf. My brothers are normal possums, though, Crash and – EDDIE! GET DOWN FROM THERE!"

So much for normal, I mentally smirked. Above us, two greyish figures similar to me were giggling mischievously, accompanied by a rather ruffled looking Diego who wished he had not been talked into this. "Ready?" Eddie asked, clambering in amongst the leaves of a very flexible pine tree. "Ready." Confirmed Crash, signalling to saber. "Aim, and... fire!" The tree sprung forwards as Eddie was hurtled through the air, whooping joyfully. Ellie reached her trunk out (with me clinging on wildly) and grabbed him as he began a descent.

"You know, you'll probably get yourself KILLED doing that kind of crazy stunt!" she told him reproachfully. He held up his hands in a gesture for her to stop lecturing him. "It's all in the adrenalin, sis. Hey, who's the newbie?" he walked up to me as I got to my feet.

"Hi, I'm Tasmin," I blurtled, shocked stiff once again that I was talking to one half of the possum twins. From a few hundred metres away, Diego leapt down with great agility from his previous rocky environment to take a closer look at what was going on, casting a dark look at Crash, who had decided to hitch-hike on his back. It was then that those large teeth started to unnerve me.

"Um, hello?!" I squeaked at him. It could have sounded for all the world like "Please don't eat me." The tiger grinned.

"My roar is worse than my bite. I won't lay a finger on you at the moment." He held out a paw for me to shake, which I accepted briefly.

"So, do you want to come and meet everyone else?"Ellie questioned me. I nodded.

As if on cue, Manny trundled through the trees towards us. "Ellie, have you seen Peaches? She's been acting up a little lately – hey, who are you?" He looked more than suspicious as I waved innocently. Of course, I should have expected nothing less from the most wary of the Sub-Zero Heroes. Thankfully, somebody came to my rescue.

"Easy there, Manny. She's new around these parts." Diego fended for me, to my utter surprise. So he's softer than he looks, is he?

"My name's Tasmin, sir. I just came here, but my parents - " I looked down and gulped, wondering how to word it – "They're not exactly here at the moment, so - "

"They abandoned you?" Manny said, evidently reminded of Sid's family. If this was enough to give him a change of heart, I would just go with it. "That's one way you could put it." I replied.

"Oh, you poor thing," Ellie sympathised with me, before turning to her husband. "We can't just leave Tasmin here on her own. Who knows what might happen?"

Manny considered for a minute, before nodding slowly. "Okay. As an outcast, you can stay under our roof until you find your own feet. You're pretty lucky, kid," he reminded me, as I grinned, "I don't do this for everyone. But I guess you could try and exercise some control over Ellie's brothers. It's about time they acted responsibly."

I looked over at the twins. They cracked a smile. "Us, responsible? Never."


	3. Hey, do I know you?

I stayed right by Ellie's side the remainder of the day. She asked me to fill her in on my story so far, so I began ad libbing and taking parts of my "life" from experiences as a human, though I tried to make it as plausible as possible for a teenage possum. The good thing was I could be vague as we collected berries and leaves for food since most of the energy I had was focused on reaching up to the highest parts of the trees, aided by Ellie's trunk, to find the most succulent and juicy fruits. This foraging took up most of our day, and by the time Peaches had returned from hanging out by the river with Steffie and co., it was almost dusk.

"Hey mom," she called, walking into the cave where we were situated.

"Hi hon," Ellie replied, "how was the river?"

"Great thanks!" Peaches exclaimed happily. She stopped short, however, when she spotted me sat cross-legged on her mother's tusks. "Uh, do you, Crash and Eddie have a long-lost sister or something?"

Ellie shook her head. "This is Taz. She was abandoned by her family, so we're taking her under our wing." I waved. Peaches eyed me cautiously, though I seemed to live up to expectations, thank goodness, for she suddenly smiled and waved her trunk back. "Hi," she introduced herself, "my name's Peaches. So, you're - Taz, is it?"

I nodded, and stepped off Ellie's ivory to transfer to Peaches' so as to get a closer look at her. "Yeah, that's me," I replied. In my head, it still felt a little bit unnatural to be called Taz, but still I attempted to convince myself that my days as Charlie, the odd, spacy schoolgirl who daydreamed too much, were over. She smiled again before looking over at Ellie once more.

"Oh, and Mom? Louis is staying over tonight. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, sweetie. What time's he coming?"

"Who's Louis?" I asked, remembering I was meant to be new to all this. Inside, however, I was squealing with joy. I was actually going to meet him!

"Oh, you mean Louis?" Peaches responded to my question. "He's my best friend, but he's a molehog."

There was something about that last part that irritated me. _"But he's a molehog." _It sounded almost derogatory when my mind played the sentence over again. _Molehog he may be, _I thought angrily,_ but don't forget Louis has saved your sorry butt countless times, not to mention he still puts up with being friend-zoned by you! _My expression must have given something away, because Peaches' ears lowered slightly as she took on an expression of concern. "Are you okay?" she asked. I was a little sick of being asked that too many times today, but I just shrugged and said, "Yes, it's just that I've never met a molehog before." Phew. Most of that wasn't a lie, though. I still felt the anger that had simmered down to pure annoyance right now, but in truth, despite having seen Louis in Continental Drift, it's not like I had ever interacted with him before.

"What's Louis like?" I enquired, trying to gain a view of what Peaches thought about him.

"Nice. He's quite brave, and honest." Peaches replied thoughtfully. I could almost see an image of Louis floating above her head in a miniature thought bubble. "He's a bit - you know, timid, but he can be a great friend once you get to know him."

"Right." I said, mentally shaking my head at the fact that she was missing out big time. Though, I guess if Louis had never told her about his feelings, she wouldn't really have taken it into consideration. Her love life was probably more focused on same-species relationships.

Slowly, other members of the herd trickled in, curling up by the steadily roaring campfire and chatting casually. I had recently discovered the use of my tail, and was practising swinging in a tree outside (which is a lot harder than it looks, actually, you have to build up muscle in the end of your tail) when Shira, accompanied by Diego, approached the cave. She nodded briefly in my direction (obviously, Diego had tipped her off about the new herd member) as they passed. I breathed a sigh of relief to know that if both sabres accepted me, I should be okay with everyone else.

I tried several bouts of animal aerobatics (succeeding occasionally, but failing miserably the rest of the time) before noticing a dug up path of dirt making its way towards my tree. A small "Ow!" was audible as it hit the trunk and the earth below crumbled to reveal Louis's head popping out. I froze. It was _him! _The cutest (in my opinion) little guy ever to appear in the Ice Age movies. If I was in my human state just then, I probably would have squealed and cuddled him for hours on end, but I had to remind myself that I, apparently, had never met him (as I told Peaches before).

"Hey, are you all right?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'm good," he replied, shaking the dust out of his crop of brown hair. I mentally sighed in a dreamy way... _his hair is so nice_... Climbing out of the hole, he looked up to see me dangling off a branch, fixing my gaze on him.

"Uh, do I know you?" he asked, squinting in the glazing sunset.

"Nope. Neither do I you. The name's Ch- I mean, Tasmin. But everyone calls me Taz." _Phew, that was a close call!_

"Louis." he told me his name whilst kicking some more earth back over the hole he had made.

"Louis. Okay, I can live with that." I grinned, dropping down from the tree and landing on all fours (I must have looked a bit daft), before drawing to my full height. It sounds grand, doesn't it, full height? That is, if you can call being three quarters of a foot _tall_. **So impressive. *sardonic***

"Hey, would you happen to know a mammoth by the name of Peaches? She said she knew someone called Louis." I said casually. _That_ seemed to get hisfull attention.

"I know Peaches, yes. She's my best friend." His expression softened like it often did in the films, and I had to use every ounce of self-respect I had to restrain myself from flinging my arms around him in a sympathetic hug. At the same time, my conscience sneered. _Well, duh, he's not going to like you when he already has a crush. This isn't a fanfiction. _***Even more irony*** A felt a pang inside me, a pang that I shamefully ignored.

"I saw her arrive back from the river about an hour ago. She said you were coming over later." I informed him, as we walked inside the cave and settled down. Peaches was deep in conversation with Shira (who, I guess, was still adjusting to life in the herd) so we felt better not to disturb them. Besides, I had no intentions on getting on the wrong side of a sabre on my first night here!

"So you're new here?" Louis began questioning me. I nodded.

"Just arrived here today, actually. Manny kindly agreed to letting me stay here temporarily. And, to be perfectly honest, I think I prefer sleeping on the ground in here than on a tree. I prefer following the rules of gravity."

Louis let out a small chuckle. "I'm just used to sleeping in a burrow. You'd actually be surprised by how comfy dirt can be."

"Huh. I guess it depends which ground you're sleeping in." I replied, trying to imagine the different categories. Red earth, dry earth... I wasn't even sure whether those types were real. I'm no expert on nature to this day, actually, I can grant you that...

"I guess." He shrugged.

I pretty much let Louis do most of the talking after that, since I didn't really have much to say. I could make up a previous family and life, or whatever, but for some reason I felt really uncomfortable lying to Louis. I didn't like lying to Ellie, Manny, and everyone else, and I'd be damned if anyone found out about me as Charlie. However, if I made stuff up when I was with Louis I felt my brow furrow as guilt clung onto my insides, making me feel despairing afterwards, dying to tell him the truth. So, it was a lot easier learning about his life than my phony one. Most of me, I guess, just wanted to learn the stuff about Louis that no fan site or behind-the-scenes clip could ever tell me. I mean, he HAD to have some kind of family, even if, to my dismay, they were never mentioned in any reliable Ice Age information source.

In fact, as I found out, he had quite a large family, most of which consisted of cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, all of whom were avid diggers, as they were obviously entitled to be, being molehogs. He even had a little baby sister called Jessie (that being my middle name) who I was anxious to meet, since I was sure I would have a cuteness overload upon seeing her. I did try to create some kind of tunnel as well, Louis patiently instructing me, but my new claws her far too blunt and brittle for any kind of digging work. In the end we both had a laugh about my failing efforts.

By this time, it was pretty much dark, and a lot of animals outside were settling down to sleep. I jumped up on a large boulder inside the cave, arranging some blades of grass and leaves across the flat surface, thinking it might suffice as a bed. I was unaware that Peaches was watching me with interest.

"You don't sleep upside down?" she asked in surprise.

Shoot. I'd forgotten about that.

"Well... sometimes I do. The blood to my head makes me a bit woozy, thought, so most nights I just kip under trees and stuff, but not hanging _off_ them."

She shrugged, and looped her tail over the oak branch outside next to her mother, who was already snoring soundly. A little below me, Louis had dug a hole in the ground, and as no sound eminated from it, I assumed he was just trying to get to sleep. I sighed happily. Becca and Kayla would never even believe the day I was having. They would probably report me to a psychologist if I told them I had passed out, re-awoken as a possum thousands of years before our time and met the Ice Age crew.

"Hey, Tasmin..." Louis' voice came from the hole in the ground.

"Mhmm?" I replied sleepily, poking my head over the edge of the stone to see my new friend's head emerge.

"Me and Peaches were going to go down to the River tomorrow... I was wondering, did you want to come with us and meet the other guys?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Life was amazing.

* * *

**So, third chapter up and running! Hooray! :D Yes, I know possums are supposed to be nocturnal, but human-possum-things are not, okay? Besides, Crash and Eddie couldn't keep awake on watch during IA3. Bwaha, scoobs triumphs again :)**

**Taz: I am going to kill you after the next chapter...**

**Me: Shh! NO SPOILERS YOU DUMBASS.**

**Taz: *grumbles* Was that really necessary?**

**Me: Yeah, because you were about to reveal the whole plot, idiot.**

**Louis: Guys, break it up!**

**I'm fighting with my own OC? Heck, I'm messed up.**


	4. Curse you, reality!

**Hello everyone!**

**Taz: Yeah, hey all! Ooh, I like bold writing!**

**Me: Stop it! *shoves***

**Anyway, this is the first part of chapter four, because I decided to split this chapter into 2 bits. This is the short(er) bit just to tide you over for now, k?**

**Taz: HEY! Aren't you going to talk about my appeara - **

**Me: Later! *shoves again* Anyway, just thought I'd say this again: Don't own Ice Age. Never have, never will do. Unfortunately. Nor do I own 'Just Friends' character Lori, who is mentioned in this fic, (and owned by Lorithemolehog123) or Lightning, Razzy, Shi-Shi, Tiny, Ranger Danger, Ghost, and Diego Jr. (all of whom belong to MusicRocks807).**

* * *

I came around after what felt like ten minutes of sleep. Of course, it must have been a few hours, but hey, time flies when you're off in the land of nod.

My eyes flickered open, and when I saw the hazy figure of Louis beside me, my heart leapt - only for my vision to clear as I realised it was only the fanart I had tacked to my wardrobe.

There were several of these sketches, actually: mainly of Louis, of course, but there were a few others: one of Crash and Eddie (entitled 'We're very, very, stupid'), another of the Brat Pack ('Gross! It's that weirdo who chills with POSSUMS!') and another of one of my favourite OC's, Lori the molehog from Just Friends. I was planning to do one of Shira's cubs from 'A Second Chance', but I decided to wait until I had a reference pic from the author herself. My esteem sunk even further as it dawned on me that I hadn't had the oppurtunity to meet some of these guys either.

I glanced at the time, which flashed in large red lettering on my ceiling. 3.27am.

It couldn't have ALL been a dream - could it?

* * *

I tried desperately to get back to sleep, yet the excitement of my incredible Ice Age antics played on my mind like some kind of dramatic Hollywood blockbuster. I had had the chance to meet some of my favourite characters from the series, in particular, Louis, and was about to get used to it all, only to have that joy snatched from my grasp! How was that even FAIR?!

I stumbled pointlessly through the day, feeling utterly sorry for myself. As I flicked through the special features on the Blu-Ray of Ice Age 4, even Saffy, our Weimeraner, sensed my depression. She padded silently into the lounge and jumped up on the sofa for a cuddle. I petted her soft head. "Good girlie, Saff," I murmured. Her fur reminded me of the pelt I had worn as Taz and I sighed. Suddenly, Mum walked in, and yelled at Saffy to get out. I had completely forgotten she wasn't allowed in there! That wasn't like me!

"I'm sorry, Charlie," she told me reproachfully, "but if Saffy has a fit in here I am NOT going to clear it up, d'you hear?"

"Yes, Mum," I replied miserably, flicking over to ITV3 so that the familiar themetune of 'Murder, She Wrote' was audible, before trudging upstairs.

I collapsed on my bed and fiddled with a piece of my hair (which, funnily enough, resembled my old fringe), trying to come around the to idea that I was most definitely NOT a possum. I was Charlie, stuck in the present as an adolescent human being. I was WAY too big for time travel, and I wasn't even sure whether genetic engineering worked on humans, so there was nothing I could do to change my predicament.

Despite these facts, I attempted to cheer myself up by dosing myself up on more Ice Age fluff. I groped under the bed for my Kindle Fire and pressed the little 'On' button by the volume adjuster. The screen merely showed a 'No Battery' icon before slipping back into slumber. Stupid thing. And to make matters worse, my insides were churning again, like someone had stuck them in a blender, just like yesterday... when I had passed out... it was happening again!

I had no need to race to the bathroom this time, because I knew by now I wouldn't chuck up after all. I had adjusted myself to the feeling, actually. I sat on the bed cover instead, eagerly awaiting the point when I zonked out, which, I am glad to say, came seconds later, as I fainted once more.

* * *

**Well, there ya go! Second part up and running! And yeah, I know this is short, so I might kind of merge a bit of Chapter 5 into there. Perhaps.**

**Taz: Meanwhile, we're eagerly awaiting more of 'A Second Chance' by MusicRocks807.**

**Me: Yup! I know, we're sort of obsessed, but hey, her writing is epic.**

**Taz: Plus, I'm in it! :D**

**Me: Fame hogger. :S**

**Oh, and by the way, like the new cover? :D**


	5. Dive, dive, dive!

**Hey guys! And yes, you may clobber me, for I haven't posted a chapter in what feels like months when you're the author. But hey, I have the holidays to look forward to, so a lot of carrot and less of the stick to keep me going! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Tas-min?" a voice asked. My eyes were glued together with sleep dust, and by ear I wasn't quite sure who it was. "Taz?" the voice asked again. I rolled onto my side, choosing to ignore whatever was interrupting my slumber. By now I think that it - whatever _it _was - was getting impatient.

"TAZ!" it yelled, and I jumped and forced my eyes open, waiting until they adjusted to the sudden daylight and realising who had been trying to wake me up.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. And it's about time too." Peaches told me, grinning. I blinked the sleepdust out of my eyes.

"Sorry, Peach. I'm a heavy sleeper. I think I even snoozed through an earthquake one time." I said, staggering to my feet and realising that my leaf and grass bed hadn't been of much comfort, since my muscles were aching from being in an awkward position on the hard stone surface. It was then I also noticed Louis was there too (the REAL Louis, not one of my fanarts), and tried my best too look like I hadn't just been dragged out of bed (literally) by flattening my fringe, which was a lot bouncier than my human hair and was stuck up in some kind of crazy duck tail.

Peaches shrugged. "Nah, it's okay. It's not that late, but we're spending the day down at the river, so we'll grab something to eat once we're there. Sound cool?"

"Yup, that's good. I'll just tell you, though, I've not got very good stamina, so I won't be walking too far without faceplanting or something!" I joked.

"Oh! That's okay. You can sit on my back if you want to," she offered, taking me seriously. I shrugged looked over at Louis, who shrugged back.

"It might be a bit... um, jolty... but other than that, usually safe." he told me.

I bit my lip, but scrambled up onto the mammoth's back anyway.

"So, are we going then?" I asked, but apparently it was a useless comment.

* * *

"WOAAAHHH! SHUNUMBUNGERS!" I shouted as Peaches took to the trees, whooping, whilst instructing Louis' tunneling figure,

"I'LL MEET YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!"

I clamped my eyes shut again as I clung desperately to Peaches' neck fur, muttering under my breath, "Please stop, please stop, please!" as my stomach felt like it was going over about three thousand speedbumps. Apparently, mammoths have good hearing, for she swung down from the branch and allowed me to slide off onto all fours.

"Remind me - NEVER - to hitch hike - on your back - ever - again!" I groaned, gasping for breath. Peaches wore an expression similiar to that of a naughty schoolgirl. "Sorry. I wasn't trying to scare you or anything. It's just a habit."

I nodded, attempting a smile as I stumbled to my feet, using the tree that Peaches had just dismounted from as support, making a mental note as I did so: _Never _accept a lift on Peaches' back, because, boy, will you regret it!

* * *

By the time we had arrived at the clearing, I had fully re-gained my energy and was in a pretty positive mood for seeing the other Ice Age characters. My ears flickered towards sounds of laughter and chattering, plus whoops of enjoyment, so I peeked through the trees to see what awaited me. 'The River' was a pretty loose term for this latest teenage hangout, as a large gushing brook that trickled down from a cliffside met an almost reservoir-like expanse of water, where fellow animals mucked around in the water or chilled out on the lush grass bank while catching up on gossip.

"Pretty neat, right?"

I looked up to see Peaches standing over me, a broad grin on her face. I looked up to see who she was calling to.

"Steffie! Meghan! Katie!"

Three other mammoth heads turned towards us. Steffie, the leader of the three, called back,

"Yo, Peaches! How's it goin', girl?"

"Awesome, thanks," Peaches replied, as we walked onto the scene and met with the females of the Brat Pack. I stood behind Peaches' leg, trying my best to keep out of view. I was a little more than anxious. How those ladies saw me would basically put my popularity roots down, but as Peaches introduced me, I found they must have thought a friend of her was a friend of them too.

Peaches coaxed me from behind her.

"C'mon Taz, these guys don't bite," she said, rolling her eyes.

I jokingly poked a tongue back at her, before turning to wave at Steffie, Meghan and Katie.

"Heya guys! Name's Taz. I'm, um, new to these parts."I bit my lip as the part lie escaped my mouth. Sure, I hadn't been here before, but I knew exactly where we were, as well as how all of these people had ended up here; all of them, that is, except the hyraxes.

I didn't_ like_ to cover up my identity - in fact, it brought me great discomfort and thorough guilt - but I knew it was probably the only way to be accepted and not be treated like I had a few screws loose. I know, I know, I've been over it before, but seriously, think about it: Would you be comfortable fibbing about your whole existence?

Steffie smiled a genuine smile at me.

"Heya, nice to meet you, dudette! I'm Steffie."

We exchanged a quick high five, before I was introduced (even though I actually knew them already) to the other two mammoths. They took me under their wing pretty quickly, but I guess it felt like that because I was being WAY more level headed than I ever was as a human. I have to admit, though, that wasn't stop me from doing crazy possum stuff.

* * *

Peaches and Louis (though mainly Peaches) had been lingering around Ethan and his crew, with whom Peach still had a good friendship, whereas I'd pretty much spent a lot of the morning exploring. Even though I was pretty sure that I could and couldn't eat, I was pretty sure that there were some perfectly juicy berries lingering on a bush until Louis pulled me out of the way abruptly and explained that they were Lotus berries! I felt like such a dumbass not to have recognised them.

I climbed up onto the edge where everyone was stood. Peaches waved me over. "Hey, come look at the view from here! You can see the entire forest!"

"Really? Cool!" I exclaimed, scampering (as it had become my new gait of movement) over to where she was. I looked over the edge of the cliffside.

It wasn't that far from the lake-ish bit, actually, but when you're small like I am, it can see a pretty long way. About the kind of drop you would expect for a 5-10 metre diving board. Speaking of which, I had a little bit of a Crash and Eddie moment at that time. If I peered over the edge, I could see the lake was pretty much at the foot of where we were stood. If I jumped off now, I'd just land straight in the water. I could always dry off on the way home.

"Well," I shrugged, as the sun began to move from its highest point, casting shadows onto the jade-coloured grass, "In situations like this, there's only one thing for it: CANNONBALL!"

With that, I proceeded to throw myself into a divebomb down to the bottom of the lake.

My feet stung as I hit the surface with such large force, and I could feel the water plastering my fur to me. I squinted as I took in my surroundings under the water. It was pretty clear, and I could see loads of little minnows darting around in their aqua home. Some of them came too close to nibble the soles of my feet, and I let out a giggle, after which I choked as my windpipe was filled up and I urgently pulled myself up for more air, coughing some of the water out.

* * *

Up above me, to my blissful ignorance, there was a little bit of commotion as I didn't come up straight away. "Is she okay?" Peaches fretted. I looked up and saw about six sets of eyes staring down at me.

"Come on in!" I shouted up to them. "The water's really nice!" I dived under again to prove my point, swam about a few metres before coming up again for oxygen. I saw Peaches shrug, as she leapt off the cliffside with the others to join me. I yelled as the force of several mammoths hitting the lake reached me, drenching us all through to the skin.

* * *

**CHAPTER 5! OMG! I did it!**

**Taz: That's not much of an achievement, y'know, MusicRocks is on Chapter 13 of a Second Chance. She tells more story about me than you do, and you're my owner!**

**Me: Yeah, well, I procrastinated, okay?! And that goes for a lot of my homework as well!**

**Well, I have some good news and bad news. The good news first - it's the HOLIDAYZ! *dances weirdly***

**Taz: And the bad news?**

**Me: Uh... I have 2 pieces of project work to do as well as 7 more questions in French to finish off.**

**Taz: Ugh! *slumps***

**Me: Meh, Well, at least I finished the chapter. Right, guys?**

**Bit of a random one, this, but hope you liked it anyways! ^^;**


	6. Home Sweet Home

After the little - ahem, _incident - _by the River that afternoon, Peaches, Louis and I said our farewells to the other teens before heading back the way we had come that morning. The forest was quiet and sincere, and the only sounds disturbing the silence were the twittering of birds and ourselves. Our voices cast an echo up into the trees that arched over us, casting warm, flickering shadows. Thankfully, with some persuasion, Peaches stayed out of their branches and on the solid ground this time, much to my relief!

"Taz, can I ask you something?" she said, as we strolled past a fallen log. The wood itself was so curving and twisting, it looked like a dead basilisk.

I nodded, hopping onto the log and attempting to walk across it, pigeon-toed, arms spread, as if on a tightrope. Peaches continued -

"How come you're a possum, but you don't like hanging from trees?"

_Ah._

I sighed, hopping off and kicking aside a miniature pebble. This kind of conversation was bound to crop up at some point, just like the whole issue of my 'not sleeping upside down', so I knew I'd have to grit my teeth get used to it, until everyone knew of my strange _non-following of instinct._ "I do, I just -" I struggled to think of a reply that would suffice - "I don't like heights, okay?"

Her expression was questioning, so I explained further,

"For you, it's not that far to the ground from a branch, because you're really tall, but the floor feels like a million miles away when you're my size. My friend once fell from, like, ten feet; she nearly broke her leg!"

I guess that was _kind_ of true - my friend Louisa jumped off the roof of her conservatory and twisted her ankle. I remember it being all swollen and purple-looking, not exactly the most pleasant thing to look at. That twisted ankle could probably be compared to the way I was twisting the truth right now.

Peaches winced. "Ouch, that sounds painful."

"Ya think?" I replied, forcing an untinentional smirk that was creeping up on me to retreat. Instead I cleared my throat as Peaches asked me yet another question,

"But what about at the River? You didn't have a problem with heights then."

"Yeah, but that was different," I shrugged. Which it was, in a way. "I had water beneath me then, so I could conclude I'd be okay. I can judge stuff like that."

She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, reason enough."

I shook my fringe out of my eyes for the fourth or fifth time that day. Since it had been doused in water, it had dried and gone all fluffy. Some of you must know what I mean, when you've dried your hair and it goes all fine and static and - well, generally weird. Consider that becoming about ten times worse. Complete -and utter - _nightmare_. I felt like I was wearing a clown wig or something absurd.

The fact that Crash and Eddie decided to rub it in didn't exactly help, either. When we grew close to the herd's dwelling and sighted Ellie's brothers near the bushes, they broke into peels of laughter at the sight of my now 'poofy' **(Gosh, Manny, I know how you feel now!)** hair.

I scowled. "Hey, if you're going to make jokes at my fur, go on ahead, but I think you're seriously underestimating a female opossum's fighting skills."

They were perhaps two of the few people in this new world that irked me big time. I mean, being the same species, you'd _think _we'd get along, but, oh, no, not with Crash and Eddie, because it just doesn't work like that. They'll do whatever they can to get on people's last nerve. It's as if someone furry-fied then cloned that really annoying boy who sits in the corner during Maths class and winds everybody up. Yeah, that guy. Not particularly great, being stuck with that day after day after day, right?

The twins chose to ignore my comment, and strolled away, still howling. I scowled.

"Are they always so -"

"Annoying? Obnoxious?" Louis guessed what I was about to say, "Yeah, they are."

"Okay," I smirked again, giving in to my facial expressions, "I was gonna say something a that was a little ruder, but hey, that works too!"

They both chuckled as the three of us entered the clearing together.

It was late afternoon by now, and so the orange sun cast syrup-coloured light over all the wildlife around us. There were a few shrieks and yells of young animals playing in the distance, but other than that, the place was fairly quiet.

Manny, Diego and Sid must have gone out somewhere, because Shira was sat on her own in the cave, Ellie outside with her brothers, who had obviously retreated to her after they insulted me. I directed a purposeful glare at the twins as I passed, wanting them to get the message. They cowered mockingly whilst Ellie wasn't looking, but as I was about to give them a rather rude gesture, she turned, so I simply went with a hand movement that we both took to mean 'I'm watching you.'

I crept into the cave, attempting not to disturb the female sabre who was evidently resting her eyes, but her head rose up as Peaches greeted her.

"Hey, Aunt Shira."

"Hey, Peach. Hi Louis. And... Tamsin, is it?"

"Tasmin," I corrected her, "Long for Taz, and... well, not really short for anything."

Shira rolled her eyes, but lifted her head off her legs so her paws weren't obstructing her vision.

"Where've you guys been, then? Down at the River?" she asked, looking at our fur, which was still mildly damp.

Peaches nodded. "Yeah, we kinda..."

"Well, Taz decided to..." added Louis.

"Jump in the lake from the cliff, like a boss!" I finished.

Shira grinned. "Lucky you, being cold and wet for the rest of the afternoon."

Now it was my turn to eyeroll at her.

"Yeah, whatever."

Her earrings glinted in the setting sun, and an epiphany washed over me: How had she gotten those, anyway?

"Hey, uh, Shira? Where'd you get those earrings? I really like them."

Peaches stared outside, obviously not listening - she'd probably heard this story a million times before.

"Oh, these. I got 'em pierced when I joined the crew about a decade ago. Squint did 'em, but it hurt like heck!"

"I can imagine! I've always been too much of a wuss to get mine pierced." I admitted.

My mum often over-exaggerated about ear piercings; saying that I could get blood poisoning and die **(*gulp!*)** if they were pierced unprofessionally or unhygenically. Louisa, however, had hers done in the September term, and she had been nagging me ever since to get earrings as well. I hadn't given in to the peer pressure just yet, but I could tell my inner shell was slowly caving.

"Couldn't you numb it with, say, Lotus berries or something?" asked Louis. Shira shook her head.

"We didn't have any on board. Besides, I probably would have looked like a coward if I'd asked for them to reduce the pain."

I shuddered. "Lovely." I _definitely _wasn't going to arrange to introduce my ears to a piercing gun any time soon, that was for sure.

* * *

**Yeah, short chapter, I know :( if anyone has good ideas for the next few chapters, then TELL ME, 'cause plot bunnies may be rewarded with a dedication story! ^_^**

**Taz: Ugh, Crash and Eddie are so ANNOYING!**

**Me: That they are, Taz, that they are. Plus, they broke my light shade.**

**Crash: What?! It wasn't OUR fault it looked like a climbing frame! A sparkly blue one, but still!**

**Me: *sigh***

**SPOOOOIIIILLLEEEEEERRRRRRR! (don't read unless you must!)**

**I'm kind of freaking Taz out at the moment due to the fact that I'm designing her children.**

**Taz: Please, someone, help! I'M NOT READY TO BE A MOTHER! *despairs***

**Me: Don't worry Taz, they'll only be introduced in the sequel to IARN! *waggles eyebrows***

**Welp, dat's all for now, folks! Oh, and I will worship you forever if you review :D**

**Taz: If you don't, I'll set my future kids on you!**

**Starr, Tyson and Emmeline: *grins menacingly***


	7. War and Bunny Rabbits

That night, I found it nearly impossible to get to sleep. I don't know why, I just did. Staring up at all those stars... it filled me with peace, and unfortunately, insomnia. I would have tried counting (prehistoric) sheep, but that actually doesn't work at all. Seriously, go check it on the internet. **(Oh, and just for other reference, cheese doesn't give you nightmares either! :P)**

I looked around at the rest of the herd, all of whom were sleeping soundly: Ellie, Peaches and the possum twins (Both of which I was still pretty annoyed at) hung from their tails on an oak branch, Manny sleeping soundly beneath them against the trunk of the tree, Shira and Diego cuddled up together (If I took a picture of that, it would have made AWESOME blackmail!) inside a mini-cave, Sid and Granny were sleeping in a separate shelter, where I was sat cross-legged, wondering why the heck I was still awake. Louis had gone home to his family, so there was no one to talk to. No one else except - wait, what was the noise that I had heard just then?

My eyes darted towards the bushes, where the familiar sound of a twig snapping had come from. I scrambled to my feet, anxious to find out whatever made the noise. Perhaps it was one of the pirates... ? No, wait, stupid idea, Tasmin! Huh, would you look at me, I was referring to myself by my new name already.

Well, whatever that noise was, I was bound find out, otherwise I'd never get a good night's sleep with the thought of being watched hovering in the back of my mind. I edged further towards the bush, feet silently padding across the clearing. Reaching the edge, I slipped through the barrier of leaves, unprepared for the sight that met my eyes.

A cowering rabbit stood in front of me, one paw protecting her face, the other shakily poising a fishbone dagger at me. Her fur might have been a gentle cream colour before, but now it was stained a faint auburn with blood and dirt. There was signs of warfare on her body - three crusty scars on her neck, scabs on her knees and elbows, as well as a large chunk of flesh that had been ripped savagely from the tip of her right ear.

"Нет! Уходи! У меня есть меч!"

"Huh?" I replied, with no clue as to what she was saying.

"Begone! I have a weapon!" she repeated, in English this time.

"Hey, hey," I held up my own paws, backing off very slowly, "I'm not gonna hurt you! You're safe here!"

The doe lowered her sword, hesitating, her expression lightening slightly.

"Yes, that's good," I said softly, encouraging her, "Now, drop the skull, okay? I promise, you'll be fine. I won't lay a finger on you as long as you don't hurt me."

She paused, before following my instructions. The swordfish head made a dull 'smush' on the dew-soaked greenery underneath our feet. The girl sighed.

"извините. You must excuse my actions. It has not been easy recently."

"I can tell," I replied sympathetically, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder, which she did not shrug off. "What's your name?" I asked, as I didn't want to have to refer to her as just "rabbit".

"My name?" I saw her hesitate again before answering my question, "My name is свобода. In your language, it means freedom, or liberty."

"Okay then, I'll call you Liberty. But is Libby okay, just to make it easier?"

'Libby' nodded. "дa, Yes, that is fine."

I smiled. "So, Libby..." I wondered what I should say, "What brings you here?"

Liberty looked around as if to check there were no prying ears, before she whispered, "I am running away."

"Running away?" I repeated, baffled.

"SHH!" she snapped urgently. I nodded, lowering my voice too.

"Why are you running away? And who from?"

She sighed once again. "Everything. I have had a dark past, I needed a new start. Travelling to Switchback Cove seemed like the only way."

I raised one eyebrow. So Liberty knew what the island was called? Had she too, perhaps, known of this place before?

"I used to be a member of a sea crew," she continued, "But the captain was a harsh master who knew only of evil deeds. It was only by seeing through the eyes of his victims that I was able not to be brainwashed by his bitter lust for revenge against the world."

My eyes widened. Surely, she didn't mean who I thought she did... "Did this captain, by any chance... was a he a giant ape named Gutt?"

"Yes!" she gasped, shocked, "How did you know?"

"Well, I... I've heard of him," I confessed, "He's famed for his flesh-ripping claws, right?"

Liberty nodded, shuddering. "Yes, he is. I should know, too." She gestured towards the marks on her neck. Now that I saw her wounds up close, they looked pretty grisly. And that was saying something, since I wasn't too bad with gore. I'd made it through a complete dissection of a sheep's heart and lungs during Biology, whilst Becca (along with some other weak-stomached students) was forced to retreat to the other side of the lab to avoid throwing up.

I winced. "Ouch, that looks... painful."

She laughed shakily. "It was! So was this." she pointed towards her ear. "I had it torn out by пиранья, the piranha."

"Ay ay ay!"

* * *

We laughed and talked for a while. I learnt that Liberty had been born here on the island, and first set out to sea at the tender age of nine **(in rabbit years XD)** after her parents and siblings were killed in a raging fire. Liberty herself had been playing with her friends at the time, so she was the only kit left in her family. She thought joining the pirates would mean she would have a new family and exciting time sailing to far-flung places of the world, finding exotic new fruits to feast upon. However, she soon discovered her new daily routine to be a boring composition of mopping deck floors and running errands for each member of the crew.

The only thing that kept her going through the day was knowing that Squint (who she had taken a shine to) would be there to tell her stories and make her laugh at the end of the day, when everyone else was asleep. I smiled at knowing what it was like to have that brotherly comfort. My older half-brother Damien always stopped by to see us every once in a while when he wasn't working, and he usually had me in stitches from all the ridiculous stuff he did. As a child I always used to 'glomp' him whenever he walked through the door to greet us after a long day at college. I could see that Liberty had been blessed with the same sort of bond to Squint as I had to Damien.

I could tell how fond she was of him because of the way her eyes shone when his name was mentioned, either by her or anyone else. I can imagine a younger Liberty babbling to Raz about what Squint had been up to while the Procoptodon rolled her eyes and chuckled.

It was only later Liberty realised she was being drawn into a way of evil, especially when she was deemed 'old' enough to take part in a pillaging. I remember her saying to me, "One glance at the terror on our targets' faces was enough to let the fact dawn on me that this was wrong. I knew then I had to get out of there, and fast."

That night, she tried to escape by jumping off the ship, only to run into the piranhas who took away a little fleshy momento after their fight with her. However, Squint had spotted she was missing and alerted Gutt, who had pulled her to the deck on a vine.

"He said he had rescued me because he thought it was a pity to see such a promising pirate go to waste," she shook her head sadly, "But I saw past his motives to keep me alive. He only wanted me there to slave after them, almost as if he enjoyed watching me scrub my pawpads raw day after wretched day. I eventually managed to sneak off when we docked here..." she gestured around us, "and I've lived here ever since. Which brings us to now."

I shook my head. "You've definitely not had the best of times, have you?" I said, spurting my thoughts out right there in the cold night air.

Liberty smiled weakly. "You could say that. I've been moving around the island every month. The hyrax always help me though, they keep me safe. They're a lot tougher than they look, you know."

_Hm, I guess Sid isn't the only one who can communicate with those fuzzy little creatures!_, I thought, grinning inwardly. A new thought suddenly struck me, and I turned to face Liberty. "Look, if there's anything you need, any herbal remedies for those injuries..." I saw Liberty tut at the though of using medicine, "Or even just a little bit of food, I'm only in the clearing over there." I nodded towards the bushes. Her eyes flickered over the greenery, trying to see through into the herd's home. It was a while before she spoke again,

"I accept your help. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some - uhm, _business_ - I need to take care of. Goodbye for now, Tasmin Possum."

"Bye, Libby." I replied quietly, watching her hop away into the darkness.


	8. Mission - Assassination? :o

**A.N. - Finally, it's the eighth chapter! Listen, I'm really sorry, guys, feel free to beat me with a stick for taking so long. I've had LOADS of revision to do for exams, but I've been ill again this weekend so I finally snapped and wrote Chapter 8. I could never leave you guys hanging ;) Fortunately in the next few weeks you should be hearing a lot more from me, because it's the final term until the summer holidays and my birthday *dances***

**Taz: *facepalm* She's ridiculous.**

* * *

_**Normal P.O.V.**_

A skinny doe sprinted in an manic fashion through the forest, eyes flickering as she skidded to a halt, turned right and arrived at the foot of a sinister-looking ice wall. A chuck of the frozen water had been ripped away to create a towering archway, covered by a large boulder that could only be moved by a creature of enormous strength. Liberty cleared her dry throat and spoke into the darkness in a loud whisper:

"Hello?"

"Who is it?" A cheery voice, evidentally Flynn's, replied.

" 'Tis I, Liberty Armada the Third, daughter of the rabid pirate known as 'Snag' and first mate to Captain Gutt Esquire." she smiled at her last few words. Since Shira had left, Liberty had assumed her original position as First Mate. It pleased her to know her hard work, at last, was being recognised, as it made a change from being treated as just a mere Navigator.

A few moments later, Flynn responded with an "Okay!" (which he probably would have done even if she was a complete stranger. He never had the best of brains, unfortunately) and heaved the boulder open a crack to allow her to slip into the lair.

Inside was a vast cave, at the very back of which the rest of the crew resided around a small campfire. Liberty gulped and hopped over as her peers' faces were illuminated by the flames. Gutt's appearance was even more volatile than before the encounter with Manny and his herd. There were scars to match her own drawn all over his body as a result of the siren attack, and his black eye was still healing from his unfortunate encounter with a log the mammoth had used to send him hurtling through the sky into the ocean. His head turned towards her and he grinned wickedly, displaying several gaps in his teeth where they had gone missing.

"Ah, my little minion," he adressed her, as the others copied his expression, "How did your first mission go?"

"Very well, thank you, sir," Liberty stiffened up, her brow furrowing into as serious an expresion as she could muster. "I obtained several new pieces of information."

"Oh?" asked Gutt, peeling a banana, "What new information might that be?"

"First of all, Shira seems to have formed a relationship with the buck-toothed sabre we know as Diego. He is soft as wool, but I have a strong feeling we may be able to use him as part of our plan," she explained. Everyone else nodded.

"You observed more than that, surely?" The ape fixed an ice-cold gaze on her. "Go on, amuse us."

"Well... there is a newcomer." Liberty confessed. "A possum, possibly around the age of the mammoth's daughter. She is in good shape and has sharp wit. I say we attempt to convert her to our side."

"You know, Liberty, that does sound like a good idea," Gutt said, pretending to look impressed, "But I have a better one. It is obvious, that if she is one of them, she'll want to stay, be _loyal_, so to speak." Gutt spat the words out of his mouth as if they were rancid mango. "She'll be too brainwashed by the stupid little do-gooders by the time our plan is fully formulated. No, I think we should... _dispose_ of any extra rivalry, just to make life a little easier."

Liberty's pupils contracted a little. "What do you mean by that, Captain, sir?" she asked, both curious at his idea and repulsed by his attitude.

"You are to follow this... possum. Become friends with her, get her to trust you. They're all gullible, that herd, I dare say they'll trust you too. Then, when the time comes, get her alone... and run her through!"

Gutt's lip curled into an sickening leer, accompanied by the sound of the crew yelling, "ARRGH!"

Liberty's eyes widened. "But... Captain... wouldn it not be better if we just tried..."

The sea-monkey growled as he leaned in to her, focusing on her little bunny head, and wondering what it would taste like roasted on a skewer. "You may be First Mate, but you are to follow MY orders - unless, of course, you want to be in our little friend's position..."

The rabbit froze except for a frantic nod. "I understand, Captain, I'll follow orders, I promise!"

Gutt smirked and turned to the others. "Get to bed, you lot. I need to refreshed for tomorrow, when we begin our revenge!"

* * *

**Pretty short chapter, but I wanted to upload this one quickly, for your sake. And GASP! Liberty's not as innocent as she seems! Thanks to lorithemolehog123 for the inspiration to make her 'not as good as she seems'. Anyway, I need to go and do some Chemistry revision... *sigh* See you guys next time!**


	9. Something Funny about that Bunny

**First off, thanks to everyone for giving me GREAT reviews for the last chapter! It's great to know you guys like my work :) Oh, and don't worry ICEAGEISAWESOME, Liberty was just playing along to gain Brownie points with Gutt XD**

**Liberty: Don't kill me! *panics***

**Anyway, here's Chapter 9, in all its glory. ^_^**

**P.S. For future reference, Becca's name is now Becky because of the fact that MusicRocks owns an OC named Becca too so I didn't want the issue of being accused of plagarism, copying, etc. I will also change this in the previous chapters, more specifically the first, where she is mentioned the most.**

**Enjoy, peeps!**

* * *

**Charlie's P.O.V.**

The next day was pretty much as boring as the previous one; I woke up as a human yet again, so frustrated I hadn't stayed as Taz that by this time I had actually hurled my pillow across the room and knocked several of swimming trophies off what _should_ have been a bookshelf but had turned into a pedestal for random awards that I had gained over the period of my childhood. Mum yelled up to me asking what the thud had been about. I stayed silent and rolled out of bed to re-arrange them, acting as surly and moody as it was possible to be.

The day itself wasn't that bad, I guess; mostly consisting of flicking through different movies on the Disney and Family channels on Sky, playing Ice Age Village (on which I had reached Level 42 within 2 weeks, 3 days and 16 hours. Not that I counted, of course!) and occasionally logging onto my e-mails to check what was going on in the outside world that I refused to visit today. Nothing was particularly interesting - more replies from YouTube, several gaming sites sending me messages along the line of 'We miss you, come back so we can con you out of more money again!' as well as a few spam e-mails saying stuff like 'CONGRATULATIONS! You were the 100000th visitor to .com! Click here to mess up your PC!'. It was one particular message that caught my eye, to my surprise from somebody that called themselves 'Tasmin'. I knew that I shouldn't really check out e-mails from people I didn't know, but curiosity got the better of me as I loaded the page. What I saw then freaked me out. Someone had written:

'I know who you are. Why are you controlling me?'

_Controlling? _What the heck was this nutter on about? I hastily deleted the message, along with everything else in my inbox, and closed the computer lid, feeling a little paranoid. I pulled out my chunky old Samsung and sent a text to Becky:

"hey becks, jst got the creepiest msg thru my email xxx I think it might be a virus or something xxx wbu? check ur inbox now pls im feeling kinda freaked out. thx xxx"

A few minutes later, my weird ringtone went off and I grabbed the phone to search for a reply:

"Sorry, i did check but theres no weird message. What did you say this persons name was again? :o"

I looked from my laptop to my computer and was about to tap in T-a-s-m-i-n when I stopped, and dropped the phone. Was it a mere coincidence that this weird stalker person had sent me the message under that name? Or was this some kind of sign from the creators of life? I shook my head, and turned with a sigh to the pile of homework that I had not bothered to do until the last moment.

* * *

That night, I was actually able to refrain myself from passing out until I was in bed (which, bear in mind, was at about half past nine, since I almost couldn't wait to get out of my boring old body and return to the excitement of the Ice Age), which was a big achievement considering the first time this had happened it was roughly 4 in the afternoon.

The nauseous feeling overtook me again, and I tried to take my mind off it, but before I had the chance to fully carry that out I was surrounded by pitch black again while my transformation took place. I felt myself shrinking as my tail and fur grew. My ears crept up the sides of my head and my hair slowly faded to an almost ebony colour. All in a blink, my body adjustment stopped as soon as it had started, and I sat up, shaking, as if I had awoken from a dreadful nightmare. I could see it was quite early in the herd's world, as most of the others were still asleep, except for Diego, who had disappeared off to wherever. I had a feeling it associated with his eating habits, so I shivered and looked up at the sky in an attempt to take my mind off it.

I remembered lying on my back during particularly lazy childhood days, just staring at the clouds in an attempt to depict what shape they formed. Mostly I saw dolphins, every day objects like umbrellas, and an assortment of crazy-looking hats, but now my mind had developed the details of the wispy whiteness were much more sophisticated and defined. I saw a water nymph skirting across a pond, pursued by an angry-looking crow. I rolled my eyes at how petty that sounded and tried to look for something a little more my style. A saw something that looked a _little _like a bass guitar, but the wooden end with the pegs looked more as if it was a candyfloss-coated sorcerer's hat. Don't ask me WHERE that retarded idea came from, because my eyes must have been acting weird for some reason or another.

Somewhere over in the corner of the clearing a purple lump of rock caught my eye, and a raised a questioning eyebrow at it. The rock, or whatever it was, had made a low rumbling sound like a grumpy old lady. I cautiously got up and poked it, but flinched back when I realised that was a bad decision, and that it _was _a grumpy old lady! Granny! I almost groaned. How could I forget?

"Ouch!" Granny yelped, sitting up and rubbing the affected area where I had poked her. "What's the bid idea, Floppy Fringe? Can't a lady take a nap round here without gettin' jabbed in the ribs?!"

_Floppy Fringe? _Seriously?

"Sorry, ma'am, I didn't realise..." I quickly tried to explain.

"Yeahhh, well, watch what ya realise before I poke ya back!" she snapped, waving her cane around. I jumped back to avoid being whacked, and scurried off into the forest, away from the scene of the crime.

* * *

After a while of aimlessly wandering, I curled up at the foot of a tree and began skimming small rocks across the ground, just thinking about life. With each throw I imagined it was somebody I didn't like, such as my Physics teacher, or the chavvy girls in my class who took the 'No Make-Up' rule and stomped it into non-existence. I didn't see much point in make-up, anyway. Why couldn't people just accept themselves for the way they look, without having the daub chemicals on their faces and clog up their skin pores? Didn't they KNOW about the bacteria in that expensive mascara they wore?

I was so pre-occupied with my ticking mind that I failed to notice the something was watching me until it popped up in front of me and stared in interest.

"AHH!" I yelped, backing up against the trunk, until the light focused in more and I realised it was only a Hyrax. I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, little guy. I didn't realise it was you."

"Gibogeehaaa..." he sniffed me curiously.

"Hey, what're you doing? Gerroff!" I exclaimed, attempting to roll out of the way.

The hyrax ignored my shouts of protest until it had fully discovered what I was. It nodded and beamed at me, chattering something out to a fellow creature, who scuttled out of the darkness to meet me. "Oh, look, we've got another pipsqueak here. Don't tell me YOU want to examine me too," I rolled my eyes, and then realised how stupid it was to talk to animals that couldn't understand me. Although, I guess, considering I _was_ an animal, it wasn't that crazy.

Suddenly, another voice made me jump, although I realised who it belonged to this time.

"привет, Tasmin Possum. I apologise for my Hyrax friends. They are very fascinated by other people." Liberty chuckled, and turned to the two gerbil-like creatures. "уняться, young ones. Go find your mother."

They gibbered in an excited fashion, and trotted away to carry out her orders.

"Oh! Hey, Libby," I greeted her, flattening my hair as they scurried into the distance. "Had a good sleep?"

"It was okay. Thank you for asking." her smile faltered a little, eyes flickering away from my gaze. I cocked my head.

"Something up?"

"What?" Liberty looked startled out of her thoughts, "No, no! All fine! What about you?"

I shrugged. "Fine... I'm still pretty zonked, though."

"Ah." she nodded. "You are a light sleeper?"

I contemplated her remark. "You could say that."

"I am too, I share your feelings," she chuckled. "I will stay up until the moon is gone but I am almost impossible to wake."

I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, tell me about it!"

* * *

After our little random chat, the topic somehow changed to me. "What about your family, Tasmin? I barely know anything about you."

I froze. "I, uh... there's not much to say, really..." I scratched the back of my neck nervously.

"Nonsense. There must be something you can tell me."

"Well... I lived on my own with my mum and a few other siblings, until a while back when I woke up and they were gone. End of."

Liberty raised an eyebrow. "Really? What an interesting life tale, to be told within five seconds."

"Libs, can we just drop the subject?" I was beginning to feeling a little agitated by now. She was prying too deep into my business for my liking.

"Okay..." she shrugged, "but you can't avoid the past forever. Sometimes it turns round to bite you on the behind."

_Interesting analogy_, I rolled my eyes, but kept my lips sealed.

Out of nowhere, a large shudder shook the ground below us, so sudden that I promptly fell over in surprise and Liberty shot up the tree, eyes wide with uncertainty and panic.

"What in the name of life on earth was that about?" I thought aloud, once the shaking effect had completely died out.

"Uh... probably just an aftermath of the continents splitting," Libby mumbled shakily, jumping out of the branches. "I - I have to go. Goodbye," she gabbled, picking up the pace until she was sprinting away from me.

"Libby, wait up! What's the..." but I was too late, because she had already taken a right turn into the foliage and disappeared. I shook my head. What the heck was up with that rabbit?


End file.
